Mark Zuckerberg made headlines yesterday with his keynote Town Hall speech at the latest Facebook meeting in Barcelona.

The Independent’s headline read ‘Facebook CEO on the one simple test he sets for all potential employees’. (The link’s below if you didn’t see the article.) So what was the wisdom of Zuckerberg?

“I will only hire someone to work directly for me if I would work for that person. It’s a pretty good test.”

Gobsmacked. Of course it’s a good test. It’s the fundamental measure of ‘doing the right thing’.

It’s the ‘test of truth’ I used as a leader in B&Q over 10 years ago and still I talk to leaders about today.

If you wouldn’t be happy to work with that person as your leader – why should you expect others to? Ok, they might be getting great results right now, but that won’t sustain if they can’t engage their teams and take them on a journey towards a vision.

Trust your gut. If you can’t honestly answer yes to the question ‘Would I work for this person?’ … then it’s your responsibility to ensure that no one else has to. Do the right thing.

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